Best places or parks to visit in the US?

[squirrley]

My fiance and I are planning on retiring in 2 years and are going to travel the US. Gawd bless Im so excited. WAHOO NO MORE WORKING!

Anyway, we live in FL and want to travel around and was wondering if any of you guys had any recommendations? Were getting a travel trailer, which we looked at one yesterday, so cool! I was actually amazed at how large some of the motor homes are and how in the hell does a 65 yr old person drive those things?

Any hot spots anyone can recommend??? We already have a few lined up out West but would like the good ones or ones that you would NOT go to?

[dono]

Philly's nice. Also, New York City. Uhm, there are some pretty spots up in Maine. You could come to my house if you wanted to, it's pretty chill.

[shh!]

Nevada pretty much sucks unless you like Las Vegas or if you stick to the areas near highway 395.

I really loved Utah, especially Bryce National park but the people there are very, very weird. If you go, though, you should check out the Mormon temple in Salt
Lake City and take a tour. It is actually pretty interesting, but they WILL try to convert you at the end. :-/

California is beautiful. As far as landscape and natural scenery, we are the most diverse in the country,a nd I can't think of a single thing you can do in a different state that you can't do here. I like wine country and Gold Rush country the best.

New England is spectacular in the fall, but avoid the summer because the humidity is awful.

I hate Texas except for San Antonio. It is a very ugly state, or at least it is between San Antonio and Dallas. Weather sucks, too.

Arizona has the Saguaro National Park which is the best desert in the country, so far as I've seen, but avoid going in the middle of summer, and beware of the monsoon season, which although is spectacular, can be a bit dangerous if you are driving. Obviously the Grand Canyon is spectacular, but you should NOT just peek over the edge and move on. Try taking a raft trip through the canyon. That was the best vacation I ever had. Also, Sedona is the best cityt o visit in Arizona.

Wyoming gets really interesting electrical storms. (So does Arizona, by the way).

Portland Oregon is a great place to go, and the more rural parts of Oregon are great for fishing, rafting, etc.

There is nothing in Idaho.

Alaska... well, it is so remote and unpopulated that it is tempting, but honestly, I thought it was a little creepy to be so far from people, and I worried that if someone were to murder us while we were sleeping, the rest of the world would never know.
:-)

[squirrley]

Oh how awesome, thank you Shh! My brother lives in Temple AZ and he loves it there other than the weird flu people get. Am I right to then see those the West in the spring or fall? Summers were spending in the north. Im originally from MI and loathe the winters.

This is going to be like a several year travel excursion so need lots of places! Thank you so much.

Dono~ I was in NY for a weekend with my fiance meeting with his publisher and wow so so busy crazy busy. But its a great place to visit. We managed to get in all the site seeing in a weekend. I even got my pic with the naked singing cowboy!

We can order all the books we want on traveling but its better to hear first hand what a place is like!

Thanks for the info!

[shh!]

Are you guys "outdoors" kind of people? Are you interested in historical sites or national parks, or do you plan to hit up all the cities? Honestly, I think America is the most beautiful place to explore if you are interested in the natural environment. (I forgot to mention Yellowstone, by the way.) ALL of the national parks are worth seeing, but it is best to go off-season from a crowd-control point of view. The only thing you need to be careful of is that if you want to do anything "touristy", not all the companies will be operating year round. This was a big problem in New England especially.

If you are "thrill seekers", you should look into spelunking. It's pretty cool! Also, look into some raft trips. That is a really great way to experience remote river areas.


AAA has very good guides for planning this kind of trip. They tell you which are the best things to see in every state, and I have found them to be very accurate.

[squirrley]

OMG we just got all of our AAA books in yesterday! Yea we are definte outdoors people! Were going to Belieze sometime too. We'd like to buy some property there sometime.

I will DEFINELTY keep the rafting in mind, damn cold waters though... I can handle it!
National Parks are the biggies for us no doubt. What is spelunking?

We'd like to pretty much see everything, the US has some amazing site seeing and country side. I saw about 5 miles of Denver CO and want to go back there too. Any caves mountains, etc. We have 2 chihuaha's too which should prove to be interesting. As a matter of fact we looked at a travel trailer and it had a step up so the dogs could get into bed! We do want to do the touristy stuff too. Gawd I cant imagine what Yellow Stone is like in the summer, so we thought more springish I guess.

You have no idea how much youre helping us! This is awesome!

[carpflounder]

Go to Boggs Forest in Cobb Mountain california, theres no place like it in the world!

[whaywardj]

Canyonlands outside Moab, Utah was good for me. You'll need a compass a topological maps to get around. Difficult to know where you are or what's ahead without them. And you CAN get lost and die in the high desert if you're not careful. I left my planned hiking route and return ETA with the local State Police office. Just in case. I really enjoyed stumbling on [URL="http://www.moab-utah.com/anasazi/rockart.html"]petroglyphs[/URL] at virtually every turn in the canyon. Idaho has a slew of hot springs at its northern tip near the Montana border. They just bleed out of the sides of bluffs. Wear a little bell when you're walking around up there. Bit of a bear country and you don't wanna surprise them by appearing unnannounced. Don't miss wine country in California...or Calistoga. All the places Shh! mentioned are also winners. BTW, "spelunking" is cave exploring. Oh, yeah. Also: [URL="http://www.nps.gov/muwo/"]Muir Woods[/URL] in Marin County north of San Francisco.

[squirrley]

WAHOO!!! I saw the Mammoth Caves, those were so great! Never heard that term before, gained some knowledge today!

Chris loves wine, so seeing the wineries will be a plus too. Bears? uh... uh...
He loves to hike so I'll be making darn sure I wear a cow bell! Thanks for that info! Alos leaving your info with local police! See these are things which are most helpful!

Somewhere I'll have to meet up with Nomas again too. Our visit was short!

[shh!]

WAHOO!!! I saw the Mammoth Caves, those were so great! Never heard that term before, gained some knowledge today!

Spelunking is for the more adventurous cave explorers. You would be squeezing through small nooks and crannies, often on your belly or knees, wading through hip-high mud or water (in wet caves), and wearing those dorky hard-hats with the light bulb on them. It is not good for people who suffer from claustrophobia. Some of the very deep caves have some rappelling involved, too (which I won't do because I am afraid of heights).

I love road trips! I wish I could go with you. You will need lots of money for gas in those recreational vehicles, but if you are traveling from place to place, it is a good way to go because you don't have to keep packing and unpacking. Be careful about how high it is, though. Some places you go to have height restrictions in tunnels (I am thinking specifically of Zion National Park). Also, the trailers are not nearly as easy to drive as a regular motor home, but the advantage is that you can unhook and drive around without the trailer. Any RV can be a little confining, though, so be sure to have your man drop you places so you can spend some time away. Trust me on this...

[squirrley]

Oh I couldnt agree more! When we went looking the other day I stressed the fact I wanted a slider, makes the trailer feel and look larger. Were looking at a 27 footer. Its so damn nice. A fleetwood Terry. At first we we didnt want the extra beds(bunk beds) than the more I thought about it, the more I wanted those, in case I needed some ME time. Chris and I felt a trailer would be the best for us, a motor home oh heck no for too many reasons. So, travel trailer it is! Were planning on doing this for a couple of years. Spending a month here and a month there, taking our time. Then spending a few months in the summer in MI(when its at least 70) and my family is there. Winter, a few months down here in FL where his family is located.

The whole caving thing, OMG, didnt realize or picture it all to you described it. I always thought it was cool to watch on the Discovery Channel. Hmm do I have the guts for it though? I could always start off with smaller ones. My only problem is that I have a bad back now and again, which Im hoping in time will improve more. But I cant wait for this...

Shh...there would be room in our Travel Trailer for you! Were looking into the size of vechicle were going to need with the weight thing too. Nice big V-8 of somesort! Lots of pics and video, Gawd this is going to be so great! It really helps getting all of these helpful tips! Thanks!

[daisy]

That's great! New England, Niagara Falls, Las Vegas are ones of the best places. I lived on New England for the whole summer and no humidity was there, after that I was in Florida - that's exactly the place where humidity is!! Good luck to you!

[Converse]

Places I plan on visiting:

Texas
Utah
New York
Grand Canyon
Vegas lol..

Anyone got any info about these places?

[shh!]

???

Yeah - they were already posted above... (except Las Vegas, which is... well... Las Vegas).

[Converse]

Oops sorry lol, didn't read above posts. :/